HISTORY MOMENTS The Idaho State Historical Society reports that during this week in history: The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect on March 30, 1870, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race. "The father of our regional literature," Vardis Fisher, was born in Annis, Idaho, on March 31, 1895. He later settled in Hagerman where he wrote most of his thirty-six books. In addition to his novels, Fisher was a journalist with columns in Idaho newspapers appearing from 1941 until his death in 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 3, 1968. By legislative act of April 2, 1982, the Idaho State Historical Society Board of Trustees was designated to serve as the Idaho State Geographic Names Board. This Board publishes formal decisions that control federal publications referring to geographic features. Ground-breaking ceremonies took place for the Idaho Territorial Prison on April 4, 1870. The facility later became the Idaho State Penitentiary and served in that capacity until 1973. On April 5, 1917, the U.S. Senate by a vote of 82-6, and the House by a vote of 373-5, declared war on the imperial German government and the U.S. entered World War I. It was estimated that one million men were required on the first call and that war finances and taxation would be $3 ½ Billion.